Omnichannel
How brands can thrive in the COVID-19 holiday shopping season
John LeBaron, CRO of Pattern, shares three recommendations for retailers aiming to make this holiday season a lucrative one.
December 21, 2020 by John LeBaron
People across the country are facing a holiday season warped by the COVID-19 pandemic. While cherished experiences like family dinners, visiting relatives, and holiday parties are likely to simply skip 2020 (and reemerge relatively unscathed next year), the time-honored tradition of holiday shopping has been changed forever.
The pandemic has propelled massive shifts in consumer behavior, thanks to mask mandates and social distancing measures. As a result, e-commerce has leapt into the future by a decade or more.
Combine this year's unprecedented growth in online spending with the most critical sales period of the year for most retailers, and you have the perfect conditions for a banner holiday shopping season for online retailers that can seize the opportunity. For brands looking to capitalize on e-commerce this holiday season, there are three things to keep in mind.
Keep your virtual shelves fully stocked
Few things will push consumers to an e-commerce competitor faster than the dreaded "out of stock" label. Depleted product levels have been a major issue for retailers throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
To further complicate matters, recent studies suggest that e-commerce friction and optionality reduce brand loyalty and increase the number of brands a customer will support. This shift in behavior opens the door for customers to simply purchase what they need from the most readily available and acceptable search result, rather than wait for inventory to become available from their preferred brand.
As waves of holiday shoppers descend on virtual storefronts, failure to keep products in stock could be catastrophic as buyers simply move on in the interest of expediency. Companies that are unable to take control of their distribution will find themselves in major trouble.
Create a sense of FOMO
Black Friday as a single-day event didn't really exist this year, and may be done for good. Most retailers had already started offering their deals by the time the shopping holiday rolled around. The question now facing brands is how to reach customers and tap into that same urgency and excitement when Black Friday has been transformed into a multi-week series of running sales.
Utilizing marketplace conversion strategies like short-burst sales, product photography optimization, and immersive video experiences (like Amazon Live) can create engagement opportunities that drive consumers to buy now. In fact, brands that utilize Amazon Live can experience a lift in sales of 70% or more, as consumers get a chance to engage with the product in a way that feels more familiar to an in-store, high-touch retail experience.
Optimizing product images and copy for conversion will also be incredibly important this holiday season, as 93% of consumers say that visuals are the top influencing factor affecting their purchase decision. A high-quality array of images that tell a story will help you win the buy box, particularly as competition and commoditization of products increase.
Keep all demographics in mind
Companies often have millennials and Gen Z in mind when building online shopping campaigns, but the demands of the pandemic have shifted shopping habits across all age groups. Older demographics are switching to online buying, with six out of 10 baby boomers saying they are using services like Amazon Prime or Shipt more often because of COVID-19.
This means companies must consider how to attract older shoppers to their online channels. Brands are finding new audiences and advertising channels through data, expanding their outreach to baby boomers and seniors.
Younger, more tech-savvy shoppers may still be the primary audiences for online shopping, but a successful, pandemic-driven holiday shopping season will almost certainly include older demographics. As these groups become more familiar and comfortable with online shopping, brands that capture a share of their wallet during the holidays will be more likely to turn them into regular customers.
Consumers moving en masse to e-commerce for the holidays is not a temporary holding pattern, it's an accelerated evolution. Holiday shopping is not likely to simply return to pre-COVID habits in the future. Brands that can keep their virtual shelves stocked, recreate the excitement online of in-store holiday shopping, and broaden their accessibility and appeal to older shoppers will put themselves in a position to have breakthrough holiday shopping seasons for years to come.
John LeBaron is CRO of Pattern.
About John LeBaron
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